


Undone

by mayourn



Category: Never Have I Ever (TV)
Genre: During Canon, F/M, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:36:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24132190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayourn/pseuds/mayourn
Summary: Paxton, that ending, and what is left undone.
Relationships: Paxton Hall-Yoshida/Devi Vishwakumar
Comments: 5
Kudos: 81





	Undone

**Author's Note:**

> I think writing quick fic has officially become my coping mechanism for this pandemic. Take care and have some ship crumbs, y’all.

"...Done with me," Devi says in his car, voice rising, but Paxton's anything but done with her. If anything there's too much left undone, moments that beg to be made into something more, a heightened tension he is unfamiliar with but eager to cut through.

So he closes the distance and makes something of it. Short and lingering and even sweet in a way he never is and it's a different kind of feeling he can't shake, even on his drive home alone, the not doing, the anticipation of what could come.

He knows the steps here, has taken them many times before, but somehow it's different now. All his certainty gone like the destination could be changing on him. And he’s not so sure of the weight things could be—are—taking on. A simple kiss, a simple goodbye, but with a kind of emotion that was never there before.

He picks up his phone, sends his texts. Thinking but unthinking. And when she does not respond he grabs her dress and goes. Gets caught up in something he’s not meant to, a crossfire of hurt between Devi and her mother. But the words her mother raises against him still cut, and they’re enough to make him keep his distance, to shake him awake from the stupor that’s been clouding his thoughts.

Paxton coasts by just on the motions, never getting too invested, and he doesn't put meaning to things, not really. If it’s easy, then that’s good, with no complications or ways to get hurt. But when Dr. Vishwakumar’s words keep at him he knows he’s let his guard down, caring too much and for what?

He stews, and it is not like him, at least not the cliche of the tortured brooding type for all his popularity and the interest that follows him. But Becca is able to cut through his bullshit in the way she’s always been able to, somehow able to make things seem simple and maybe they really are.

He gets up, drives out. Waits outside Devi’s door but for nothing. This time, she’s not here to answer him. And though he never checks his voicemail, never looking beyond the present moment—doesn’t even believe in missed connection—he leaves a voicemail, left waiting with a tension not unlike right before he’s set to start a swim race. The question of what the outcome here could be.

No, he is not done with her. He’s strangely undone, at a loss as he stands there, letting himself wonder what will come, actually jumping off the starting block.

**Author's Note:**

> All I’m saying is I’d like to actually get inside PHY’s head and I would not say no to him getting an ep of his own. Someone smarter and funnier than me can dream up the narrator.


End file.
